Majolica Matters - Majolica International Society

The Quarterly Publication of the Majolica International Society
Majolica Matters
www.MajolicaSociety.com
2013 – 2014 Season’s Greetings
December 2013
Attend Convention 2014 - New Orleans
Inside this issue:
• BARD – 2014 Majolica Symposium
• Brendi Makes Friends!
• Eugene Joseph LeJeune with Minton
My majolica friends (Massier Swan and Minton Putti) are carring floral
bouquets in my living room, adding to the festive holiday spirit.
Season’s Greetings to everyone!
BARD – 2014 Majolica Symposium in NYC
by Phil English
The Bard Graduate Center and Majolica International Society are jointly
planning a 2014 Majolica Symposium for May 15 - 17, 2014, in New York,
NY.
YOUMUSTSAVETHISDATE!!
The details are all in the formative stages, but the event will be available to
all MIS members and the public. It will include scholarly presentations,
home visits and the usual socializing with the foremost majolica collectors,
scholars, and dealers. This will truly be an international symposium on
majolica.
Beginning in June BARD Academic Programs (AP) staff contacted the nine
people on the "dream team" list that MIS and Bard had jointly compiled.
Of those we have seven acceptances and two turn-downs. The regrets
came from Paul Atterbury (he had a prior commitment in France) and the
curator at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Andrew Morrall, the BGC faculty member who is convening the
symposium, will give the keynote overview and set-up. Paul Stirton (who
you may remember as the faculty member introducing Gaye Blake
Roberts at the lecture in May) suggested Orsolya Kovacs to replace
Ghenete Zelleke, Susan approved, and Kovacs have now accepted.
Continued to page 2
• MIS 2014 Convention Initial Plans
• 2014 Convention Speaker: John Magill
• Top Things to do in New Orleans
• New Orleans Museum of Art
Director’s Forward
• Forester, Encore II & Monkey Business!
• Cacciapuoti, Majolica of Naples, Italy
• Return of “Pocket Albums”
Season’s
Greetings
to One and All
Continued from Page 1
Brendi a Mastiff Boxer Mix, Makes Friends!
She is at the Janus Pannonius Museum as a curator of
the Zsolnay collection and teaches at the University of
Pecs so a great Hungarian expert.
So at this point the Symposium has confirmed:
 Andrew Morrall BGC
 Susan Weber BGC, on Swedish
 Rebecca Wallis, Victoria and Albert Museum,
on English
 Maureen Cassidy-Geiger Parsons/New School,
on German
 Yassana Croizat-Glazer Metropolitan Museum
of Art, on French
 David Barquist Philadelphia Museum on,
American
 Oliva Rucellai, on Italian
 Cristina Romas e Horta Caldas da Rainha on,
Portuguese
 Orsolya Kovacs on, Hungarian
4 speakers from abroad and the rest from the Eastern
U.S.
by Laura Pate & Duane Matthes
MIS member Laura Pate’s Brown Mountain Art & Antiques
Restoration in Dallas Texas is the restorer we use because
she’s great and close by in Dallas. We had just dropped off a
project for her and the following are excerpts from our next
email communication from her! What fun!!
Wanda and Duane, I have to share this photo with you!
I rescued my dog Brendi about three months ago and
LOVE her! She is a mastiff boxer mix. I hope you like
this photo as much as I do! I was worried that you
guys might think it was disrespectful of me to take
these, but it was just so perfectly appropriate at the
time!
Brendi was lying at my feet while I had just finished
filling that chip. I looked at her and I looked at the mug
and couldn't believe the similarities! I took several
pictures, inching the mug closer and closer each time.
She seemed to be saying to me, "are you quite finished?
I'm starting to feel foolish."
Elena Simon, BGC's dean of academic administration is
overseeing all the arrangements, on behalf of BARD’s
Academic Programs. We don't yet have formal titles
for each speaker's topics or talks, but that will follow
soon and published here in Majolica Matters. We will
have full suggestion for rooms and restaurants during
this very special event!
2014 Majolica Symposium for May 15 - 17, 2014, in New
York, NY.
May15‐17,2014
YOUMUSTSAVETHISDATE!!
Editor’s note: An example of the beauty of Forester’s
majolica. This marked Forester grape leaf w/ grape
handles wine cooler dutifully displays Azaleas
Brendi (on the right) and her new found French
friend. The Sarreguemines Boxer Face Jug that
found itself in Laura’s Brown Mountain Restoration
Shop. Duane thinks Brendi is saying “I’m watching
you watch me”.
Brendi was patient enough to allow Laura to pose a
touching “Kiss”
Laura Pate’s Brown Mountain Art & Antiques Restoration
in Dallas TX: www.brownmountainrestoration.com
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Page 2 December 2013
Eugene Joseph LeJeune with Minton
by Laurie Wirth
course, in my opinion, the Minton Pigeon centerpiece is
the most important point of interest in the painting--the
girls are cute, but, come on--that centerpiece is riveting!
(Kidding, kind of.)
Thought you all would get a kick out of this as much as
I did.
Always,
Laurie
The editor added the following photos of the majolica subject
and companion pieces:
Brown wide bowl in daisy and wicker pattern.
Supported on the tails of three gray doves and
woven branches. Turquoise interior. Shape no. 874.
Dimensions: 12.5"D. Minton, c. 1850-1880's.
Photo from the Karmason Library and courtesy
Strawser Auctions, www.strawserauctions.com
Eugene Joseph LeJeune’s painting just sold at
Bonham's. Notice his inclusion of the decorative
Minton pigeon centerpiece, on the left side of the
dresser.
Dear Members,
In my constant efforts to find pictorial evidence of
majolica utilized as part of a home interior during the
19th century, I came across this charming painting
quite by accident. There was an auction of European
Paintings today (Nov. 6, 2013) at Bonham's in New
York. As I was waiting for the lot I was interested in to
come up for auction, what do I spy?
OMG --Lot 46-- a painting by the French painter,
Eugene Joseph LeJeune, "In their finest dresses."
Auction estimate was $8,000 to $12,000. Guess the final
hammer price, including buyers' premium. A
whopping $20,000! I haven't been able to find out
much about LeJeune -- his works seem to sell relatively
well due to their extremely sentimental subject content.
This painting was completed in 1876 and I haven't
found any more of LeJeune's works that include any
more majolica. I even like the greenery arrangement
that has been selected to complement the centerpiece-delicate, lively, in pyramid form--perfect floral
arrangement for the roundness of the centerpiece and a
charming contrast to the innocence of the girls' faces. Of
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Minton fruit basket designed by Albert Carrier
Belleuse. Size 18 ½ x 12 ½ inches (circa 1872),
modeled as three putti musician holding a lattice
basket. Shape number is #971. Photo courtesy of
dealer Philippe MEUNIER, [email protected]
Page 3 December 2013
MIS 2014 Convention Initial Plans
by Carol Harkess
Dates: Thursday, Oct. 9, through Sunday Oct. 12th.
Location: Westin New Orleans Canal Place - very
desirable luxury location directly adjacent to the French
Quarter and the Riverwalk.
Westin New Orleans Canal Place Hotel, truly one of
New Orleans finest hotels
The Westin Canal Place is a deluxe hotel. Suites are
available if you desire. Since it is the busiest weekend
of the year, other than Mardi Gras, PLEASE registering
early.
The first three stories of the structure holding the
Westin Hotel is the Shops of Canal Street… three floors
of high-end retail shopping.
Initial Program Plans:
Friday: Breakfast presentation: Pocket Albums
Saturday: Continues to develop but see the information
on our key note speaker which follows.
Bus tour of New Orleans.
New Orleans Museum of Art with a private showing
and tour of the Brooke Hayward Duchin Collection of
Palissy and majolica.
Free time built into the schedule to explore the many
different areas of New Orleans, the multitude of
museums and historical houses and to try some of New
Orleans amazing restaurants
“Royal Street Stroll" and visit some of the finest antique
shops in the country
Saturday Evening: Gala dinner with speaker John
Tylden Magill, Senior Curator/ Historian and Head of
Research Services at the Historic New Orleans
Collection.
Majolica Heaven Preview Party and Sale
Sunday: MIS business meeting and Majolica Heaven
MAJOLICA MATTERS
2014 Convention Speaker: John T. Magill
Born in 1946 in New
Orleans but raised in
Hawaii and California, John
T. Magill has worked at The
Historic
New
Orleans
Collection (THNOC) since
1982, when he was first
hired
as
a
picture
cataloguer. He currently
serves as a THNOC curator.
Over the past decade, he
has been responsible for
numerous THNOC exhibitions, including Pelican’s Eye:
Views of New Orleans (a history of the city through
bird’s eye views); From Bank to Shore (neighborhood
growth in New Orleans); This Vast Land (the early
French period in New Orleans); The Long Weekend
(the arts and the French Quarter in the 1920s); and A
Mystical Bal Masque (a history of the artistic design of
the Mystic Club Carnival ball).
Mr. Magill has also written extensively for The Historic
New Orleans Collection Quarterly, New Orleans
Magazine, Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine, and
Gambit Weekly. He has contributed to several books
published by or associated with THNOC, most recently
Charting Louisiana: Five Hundred Years of Maps
(2003), which received several awards, including Book
of the Year from the Louisiana Library Association,
Louisiana Endowment for the Arts, and the Gulf Coast
Historical Association.
A graduate of the University of New Orleans, where he
earned both his bachelor and master of arts degrees in
history, Mr. Magill lectures regularly about various
aspects of New Orleans life and history, including
urban growth, neighborhood histories, Mardi Gras, and
more. He lives in New Orleans.
2014 convention topic
Mr. Magill will speak to us on the growth of 19th
century middle classes, and the growth of consumerism
made possible not only by growing personal wealth,
but advances in manufacturing, advertising, magazines
and retail trade especially through the evolution of the
department store as well as world’s fairs as kinds of
dream factories. The middle classes throughout the
western world – from the great cities of the
industrialized nations to people in far off colonies and
territories – tended to develop a romantic images of
their lifestyles through the notions of such things as the
ideal home, ideal children, ideal clothing, ideal clubs,
ideal Christmas and so forth. This was reflected not
only in the exuberant tastes, fashions and foods of the
day, but it also helped foster sets of rules, regulations
and etiquette saying how people should live.
Page 4 December 2013
In the ability of the middle class to consume and fill
their homes, they were also able to show their wealth
through their possessions. No longer did fashion and
taste belong only to royalty and aristocracy as it did
prior to the 19th century, but anybody who had the
money could surround themselves with consumer
goods.
signed; St. Louis Cathedral; and the Presbytère. The
onetime courthouse is now the flagship of the
Louisiana State Museum.
Top Things to do in New Orleans
Assuming you already know generally about the New
Orleans and its drinks, poor boys, beignets, coffee,
gambling, food and live music; here are some
additional thoughts you can explore in depth on your
own while you are at Convention 2014.
Streetcars (a way to get around other than walking)
The best tour in New
Orleans
is
only
$1.25—the price of an
adult fare on the
city’s
two
major
streetcar lines. (The
shorter
Riverfront
line takes passengers along the river to the Quarter’s
French Market.) The green cars of the St. Charles line
head Uptown, trundling along that avenue’s “neutral
ground,” the name for the landscaped medians that
divide the traffic on the city’s grandest streets. Red cars
on the Canal Street line terminate at historic cemeteries
like Metairie Cemetery or City Park, where the New
Orleans Museum of Art celebrated its 100th birthday in
2011.
Magazine Street & Royal Street
Royal Street and its antique shops, draw visitors into
the Quarter. But it’s along Magazine Street—from the
Lower Garden District to Audubon Park in Uptown—
that New Orleanians prefer to do their windowshopping. Stores to explore include Derby Pottery for
its handmade tiles and Crescent City water-meter
clocks; Hemline for its local fashion sense and
sensibility; Dirty Coast for localized, graphic T-shirts;
Mignon Faget for unique, Louisiana-inspired jewelry;
and Perlis, a preppy clothing store known for its
crawfish-logo polo shirts.
Jackson Square
The French Quarter’s heart and soul is a must-see,
boasting a statue of Andrew Jackson at its center and a
ragtag collection of artists and fortune-tellers fringing
its perimeter. It’s flanked by the filligreed Pontalba
apartments, site of the Streetcar-Named-Desire-inspired
“Stella!” shouting contest held during the annual
Tennessee Williams Festival. At the Square’s crown are
three 18th-century architectural glories: the Cabildo, a
former city hall where the Louisiana Purchase was
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Jackson Square - The onetime courthouse is now the
flagship of the Louisiana State Museum
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and its collections
of paintings, photography, and ceramics from below
the Mason-Dixon Line is located in the city’s
Warehouse District. The art neighborhood is a brisk
stroll or short cab ride from the Quarter. Go late on a
Thursday for the chance to enjoy “Ogden After Hours”,
when local musicians play while patrons dance, drink,
and mingle in the galleries. It’s the best regularly
scheduled cocktail party in town. Afterward consider
nearby Cochon or a Mano for dinner, as regarded
restaurants are walking distance from the museum.
City Park
Stretching from Bayou St. John to Lake Pontchartrain,
the 1,300-acre New Orleans City Park is one of Orleans
Parish’s two green jewels. (The other is Audubon Park
in Uptown.) The entire city united to restore the park
after Hurricane Katrina. The cleanup is transcendent,
with new walking and biking paths, a great lawn for
concerts, and a revival of beloved attractions, such as
Story Land and Carousel Gardens Amusement Park,
that have entertained children since 1906.
Garden District
Live oaks, wrought iron, pillars, and porticos are some
of the aristocratic details of the Garden District, a
neighborhood of spectacular 19th-century mansions
built in styles ranging from Greek Revival to Gothic.
Accessible from downtown via the St. Charles line
streetcar, the Garden District is made for exploring.
Take time to tour Lafayette Cemetery #1, quite possibly
the most photogenic necropolis on the planet. Then
make a reservation to dine at local favorite
Commander’s Palace, the famous Brenna Family
Restaurant located across the street from the tombs.
Page 5 December 2013
Magazine Street & Royal Street
Royal Street and its antique shops, draw visitors into
the Quarter. But it’s along Magazine Street—from the
Lower Garden District to Audubon Park in Uptown—
that New Orleanians prefer to do their windowshopping. Stores to explore include Derby Pottery for
its handmade tiles and Crescent City water-meter
clocks; Hemline for its local fashion sense and
sensibility; Dirty Coast for localized, graphic T-shirts;
Mignon Faget for unique, Louisiana-inspired jewelry;
and Perlis, a preppy clothing store known for its
crawfish-logo polo shirts.
Beignets (Café du Monde)
Café du Monde is a
coffee shop on Decatur
Street in the French
Quarter
in
New
Orleans, Louisiana. It is
best known for its café
au lait and its Frenchstyle beignets. In the
New Orleans style, the coffee is blended with chicory.
The Original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was
established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market.
The Cafe is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Please set aside the 2014 Convention dates:
Thursday, Oct. 9, thru Sunday Oct. 12
New Orleans Museum of Art
Director’s Forward
by E. John Bullard
Editor’s Note: At the 2014 MIS Convention we will have the
opportunity to visit this wonderful collection. The following
is the cover of The Brooke Hayward Duchin Collection
catalogue of the New Orleans Museum of Art. This book is
periodically found, used on Amazon as: Paperback: 51 pages,
Publisher: New Orleans Museum of Art (1997), ASIN:
B001UQ49KU. We are also working with the museum to
make available copies for purchase during the convention.
Museum directors are always
delighted by major gifts to the
permanent collections to their
institutions. What makes the gift of
Brooke
Hayward
Duchin's
extraordinary collection of Palissyinspired ceramics even more
exciting is that this gift has broaden
the ceramics collection at the New
Orleans Museum of Art to a degree not previously
dreamed possible. At the same time, Brooke's gift
opens new complementary avenues of ceramics
collecting for us. The French ceramics collection at this
museum has justly become known nationwide for its
MAJOLICA MATTERS
superb assemblage of the porcelains of Paris, circa 1775
to 1875. These Vieux Paris wares have been augmented
with a choice survey collection of the porcelains
produced nearby at the famed Sevres Manufactory.
Monumental charger with serpents, frogs, shells
from Ecole de Paris, c. 1860 – 1870, 16 ¾” diameter.
With the munificent gift of Brooke Hayward Duchin's
Palissy wares, these holdings in French porcelain are
enhanced by a major collection of French pottery
representing one of the most significant nineteenthcentury developments in French ceramics. Indeed, this
promised gift gives the New Orleans Museum of Art
the most extensive collection of Palissy ceramics in the
world, with the exception of that at the Musee des
Beaux-Arts in Tours, France. At the same time, the
inclusion by Brooke of the distinguished Palissy wares
produced in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, buttresses and
complements the French examples in her collection
while opening an entirely new and exciting avenue of
ceramic collecting for this museum.
The same is true of the English "Majolica' pieces in the
Hayward Duchin Collection. While not, strictly
speaking, Palissy wares, they attracted Brooke's
attention because of their related composition and
subject matter. These examples of English pottery
production provide an interesting facet to the Palissyinspired wares while simultaneously adding depth to
the existing English ceramic collection here.
Gifts-and subsequent exhibitions-of this size and
importance do not occur overnight but are the result of
deliberation, discussion and cooperation among many
persons. I am extremely grateful to Charles Murphy of
New Orleans' Animal Arts for bringing the Museum to
Brooke's attention. Animal Arts enjoys the reputation of
being an internationally recognized p4rveyor of Palissy
ware. Special thanks are owed Enid Murphy and Tim
Page 6 December 2013
Trahan of the Animal Arts staff for their expertise,
encouragement and advice during the development of
this exhibition. Great thanks are owed Brooke not only
for this important gift but also for her hospitality to and
cooperation with the members of our staff who came to
New York' and Connecticut to select, catalogue and,
ultimately, to pack her Palissy treasures.
Forester, Encore II & Monkey Business!
by Jim Harkess and Tom Gruber
Hi Wanda,
We’ve had out of town guests this weekend, so sorry
for the delay in sharing with you!
Forester was the first to use mechanization for the
production of the applied flowers and leaves on
jardinières which vastly increased capacity. I’m just
trying to find the references again because there are
conflicting numbers.
Bergeson (book, “Majolica”), p. 71 has a reference from
the Pottery Gazette 1, February 1895: “This firm claims
to be the largest in the world for turning out art flower
pots, their capacity running to a thousand dozen per
week, one machine being able to produce two per
minute. When we consider the artistic shape and design
of these pots, such an output as this truly marks the
development of the age as regards machinery in the
application to art.”
Minton Oyster Stand, with oyster shells, woven vine,
leaves and fern motifs, c. 1860-187o. An extremely
rare and ambitious form at 27” high.
A special acknowledgement should go to our Curator
of Decorative Arts, John Webster Keefe, who is
nationally recognized for his expertise in Parisian
porcelains but for whom Palissy pottery was an entirely
new adventure. Long an enthusiast of nineteenthcentury French decorative arts, John spent a large part
of 1997 studying Palissy wares in preparation for the
writing of the ensuing catalogue.
During an era of diminishing federal and state support
for the arts, one of the best ways for museum
collections to grow and serve their communities is by
gifts from collectors as public-spirited as Brooke
Hayward Duchin, who with this singular gift has
become a cultural heroine in New Orleans.
I like to think that Brooke's gift is an utterly appropriate
enrichment for this city for several reasons. The New
Orleans area claims studio potter George Ohr (18571918) as one of its most prominent artists; many
scholars concur that some of Ohr's spectacular
achievements were inspired by his knowledge of the
work of Bernard Palissy through published sources.
In Peter Beckett’s book “The Forgotten Giant” p.25 it
says: Between the two works, the Phoenix and the
Imperial they were firing fifteen ovens on a regular
basis. When new showrooms were opened at the
Phoenix Works in 1897, Forester claimed that, “It is
now possible for us to manufacture 30,000 flower pots
per week.”
The Imperial works produced only porcelain, not
majolica, so the number of majolica jardinières would
have been less than that number. I also seem to
remember another reference that said 7000 jardinières
per week, but I can’t find the reference now. It may
have been on the internet and referencing an earlier
time in the 1880s.
I suppose the best figure for the number of majolica
jardinières at the height of production in the mid 1890s
is 12,000 per week.
By the way, what a GREAT issue of Majolica Matters!
We appreciate you guys, so much, for all the work that
goes into it.
Finally, the alligators, crawfish, snakes, frogs, mussels,
lizards and crabs that so vivaciously ornament Palissy
wares are all part of the fauna of Louisiana and
therefore familiar to us all.
E. John Bullard, Director
MAJOLICA MATTERS
The Harkess Monkeys have painter’s marks of “17”?
Page 7 December 2013
I enjoyed Wanda’s article about the monkey pitchers.
We have a couple of them, so I had to go and turn them
over today. One is 8” and the other 9.25”. They both
have the same mark that looks like “17”. It’s in black
like George Jones thumbprint numbers or some Minton
ink marks. I haven’t seen Forester pieces with black
marks. They are usually blue or brown, sometimes
another color on the top of the piece and rarely in red.
Not sure if these monkeys are Forester or not. Here’s a
link with pictures of ours:
Cacciapuoti, Majolica of Naples, Italy
by Philippe Meunier & Juan A. Defrocourt
Regards, Jim Harkess
Guido Cacciapuoti (Italian, 1892-1953)
One of the Harkess’ Monkey Pitchers. A gorgeous
fellow, with great face and colorful leaf!
Editor note: Then we received another member email! This
one was from Tom Gruber
Wanda,
Thanks for the interesting article in the recent Majolica
Matters newsletter. Like you, we love this Monkey
Pitcher form and have two. Interestingly both have the
same mark as yours, which could be either an “H” or
an “I” depending on how you view it. The marks on
both are almost identical to the second photo from the
right of the ones you show in the newsletter (see marks
photo reprint below). FYI they are 11" and 10 1/4"
respectively measured at the front lip.
All the best,
Tom Gruber and Elaine Widmer
The Monkey Pitcher details of four “H” painters
marks. The one on the right looks to be something
other than a “H”
MAJOLICA MATTERS
After working for the Mollica company, Giuseppe
Cacciapuoti (1828-1896) established his own factory of
artistic majolica in the 1870s. He successfully directed
the company with the help of his brother and three
sons, Cesare, Ettore and Guglielmo who all eventually
set up their own companies. The Cacciapuoti firm
produced works in original forms and vivacious
colours which met with great success at many Italian
and foreign Exhibitions.
Mainly vases or small figures for domestic decoration,
the items were popular with the public for their
pictorial decoration, representing imaginary or real
landscapes. The figurative repertory of the factory also
included floral subjects and animals with genre scenes.
Frenetically active, the artist-founder of this famous
factory was greatly stimulated by the opening of the
ceramic workshops of the Industrial Arts Museum in
Naples which he directed with enthusiasm and skill,
leaving many examples of his work to the Museum.
The Cacciapuoti factory initiated a period of great
success for Neapolitan artistic ceramics, creating
unusual forms decorated with a wealth of ‘capricci’ in
relief or applied to the vases, interpreting natural
subjects liberally and with flair, developing an
individual style later defined as ‘peschereccio’
(fisherman).
In 1886 the firm passed to Cesare Cacciapuoti who also
favored a more commercial line of production and
manufactured earthenware pots, but “all trace of any
ceramic production by Cesare Cacciapuoti in Naples
was lost after the firm’s last official participation in the
National Exhibition of 1898 in Turin, Italy when,
Page 8 December 2013
together with those of other Neapolitan companies, its
works were judged remarkable” (L. Arbace et. al., Le
ceramiche Cacciapuoti da Napoli a Milano 1870-1953,
Firenze 2000, p. 13).
Bassano and Treviso. In 1927 an heir of the family
founded ‘Mario Cacciapuoti & Co. in Milan, producing
artistic terracottas. This passed to his brother, Guido,
who continued the family trade developing the
production of fine animal figures and small 18th
century style figures.
Cache Pot is marked, with
Mollica’s letter ‘’M’’ crowned.
Stand & cache-pot signed Mollica, c. 1880.
Floral details of the Mollica Cache Pot.
Floral details of the Mollica stand.
Management of the business passed to Cesare’s
brothers who soon transferred to the Veneto in the
early 1900s, collaborating with well-known firms in
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Unlike other Continental potteries you know,
Neapolitan manufacture of artistic ceramics are not
molded. Artist shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel,
using the earliest forming method. The clay body can
be decorated before or after firing, studio potters find
hand-building more conducive to create one-of-a-kind
works of art.
As the factory of Longchamp and Fives-Lille in France,
the decoration is later applied.
Page 9 December 2013
The clay body can be decorated before or after firing,
potters find hand-building more conducive to create
one-of-a-kind works of art.
Large Continental majolica form vase unmarked,
24.5"H, c. Early 20th
During the second half of the 19th century, the first
handcraft Naples factories were founded and all were
family-managed. The first Neapolitan manufacture
‘’Mollica’’ was founded by Giovanni Mollica,
Pasquale’s child, already a potter near ‘’Real Fabbrica
Ferdinandea’’ in Naples. Conducted by Giovanni’s
children, the manufacture becomes one of the most
important of southern Italy.
Large Continental majolica form vase details
The Mollica Company and Giuseppe Cacciapuoti used
the applying technique consisting of flower, fruit and
Neapolitan figure of a boy. The painted decoration was
by hand to the earthenware object before it was glazed.
Archive photograph of products of the Fratelli
Cacciapuoti Artistic Majolica Factory, circa 1890.
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Page 10 December 2013
for innovation, the works produced reveal continual
experimentation in both form and colour.
Art nouveau lamp from the
Cacciapuoti catalogue c. 1910
The mark of the manufacture displays the letter ‘’N’’
blue crowned (His majesty the King of Naples). This
was also used by other factories. During the beginning
of the 19th Century other factories also used a letter
‘’M’’ crowned from time to time on the production of
majolica vases, statues and plaques in a Baroque taste,
adorned with polychromatic flowers and fruits.
The Industrial Arts Museum came into being in 1881 in
Naples as a result of the commitment of Gaetano
Filangeri; its purpose was to stimulate the revival and
promotion of Naples’ industrial arts and preserve
antique and modern artistic items as an indispensable
cultural aid for the workshops belonging to the
museum.
The purpose of the institution was to educate and train
young craftsmen, both in the technical and cultural
sense, and boost the artistic traditions of Naples in
relation to the new European artistic trends.
Giuseppe Cacciapuoti and subsequently directed by
Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palazzi, mainly
produced works of an ornamental nature, and although
the predominant style was naturalistic, there were also
some fine examples of period copies. ` As well as the
production of vases and statues, tiles and their
decorative function as architectural features were also
important. As the ceramics workshop was a breeding
ground for young talent and provided an opportunity
MAJOLICA MATTERS
Cacciapuoti stand & floral vase c. 1910
Please send your comments and material
for the newsletter to:
Wanda Matthes
3801 Indigo Drive
Plano, Texas
Phone: 972 – 596 - 2964
eMail: [email protected]
Page 11 December 2013
Return of Pocket Albums
by Darci Iola
Obviously, “Pocket Albums” were a “hit” during our
Chicago Convention 2013 so, and we are going to do it
again at convention 2014! We hope you will begin to
prepare your “Pocket Album”; of your special
collection. We want to share all that we can produce.
As a second example I’ll share a set of scenes you’ll
never see again. It is the pocket album from Carolyn
and Mark Brownawell, and from their prior home in
Virginia! They are making a new collector nest in
Boston, MA. I can’t wait for their new album.
As an example, we want to share a Convention 2013
Pocket Album from Golden Valley, Minnesota from
members Lexie and Thad Grzesiak. Their album uses
themes to highlight special parts of their darling
collection.
So many art and ceramic treasures
First these beautiful peacocks and feathers.
Another view captures the Italian glass chandelier
that has its own great story
Another photo brings all their wise owls in focus
including a prized oil lamp (top & center) and the
loving couple (bottom & center)
Their final photo is this lovely collection of pigs
(banks, pitchers, vases, strikers and the adorable
triplet of red coated bottles
MAJOLICA MATTERS
More art and ceramic treasures exemplify the
Brownawell’s passions
Page 12 December 2013